Chapter 28: 74th Hunger Games: Katniss and Rue

[Summer of 74th Hunger Games]

For most of the next day – day number six in the arena – Katniss seemed to be not really herself, and she was seen dozing or even unconscious for some time. Prim explained that tracker jacker poison was likely to be responsible for that, and Katniss would need this one day at least to become more or less normal – if somebody found her, she was not going to be able to defend herself properly and would be killed.

Fortunately, the day turned out to be very quiet. No fights broke out, nobody got killed, and not much happened at all.

Thresh had established himself close to a field of wheat south of the Cornucopia; being used to grain from his home district, he knew how to make food from it, and he also used it for hiding. He was shown a few times improvising in grinding wheat to something he could eat. The District Five female sneaked around and manged to steal a few small things from Thresh's pack when he was not looking.

A couple of times the Careers got a glimpse of Thresh and were tempted to hunt him down, but wiser minds claimed that the big tribute from Eleven would have a big advantage in the field, making the hunt too dangerous. Also, the Careers needed time to recover from their stings as well.

For us at home, this was a welcome change, and we were able to relax a little more than usual. Rather than the snacks we had had on the days before, I prepared a full lunch on this day, using some of the meat we had in our big refrigerator, and we indulged when it was ready.

At the start of day seven in the games, Katniss was now shown to be awake again, and she looked a lot better. She had apparently recognized that she needed to eat again; she successfully hunted a bird which looked like a smaller turkey and risked a small fire.

Prim was very happy about that: "My sister looks much better now, as she has water and something to eat; I believe that she has mostly recovered from the stings, too. I do hope that she is careful around that fire, though."

Suddenly a noise was heard from the screen, just barely noticeable. Katniss must have heard it, too, and reacted very quickly by bringing the bow up and nocking an arrow. Almost like in slow motion, a small boot appeared, and little Rue, the petite female tribute from District Eleven, very slowly stepped out from behind a tree. Katniss relaxed visibly, denocked the arrow, and started to grin, and she said: "You know, the Careers are not the only ones who can form alliances."

Prim started to smile when she saw Rue, and I liked that encounter as well.

For a moment, there was no response in the arean, and then Rue's timid and doubtful voice was heard: "You really want me for an ally?"

"I do. You saved me by pointing out those tracker jackers. You are smart enough to still be alive. And, it appears that I cannot get rid of you anyway."

Rue was apparently surprised and needed a moment to digest that, when Katniss asked her:

"Are you hungry?"

When Rue slowly nodded, she got invited: "Come on then, I've got some food today."

Rue offered: "If you want, I can fix your stings."

"Can you, really? How?"

Rue opened her backpack and pulled out a handful of leaves.

Prim got excited: "Those leaves look like the ones Mom uses when somebody got stung by a wasp or bee. How does Rue know that?"

"I think that we can be happy that she does" I replied.

In the arena, Katniss was curious, too: "Where did you find those?"

"Just around, in the forest. At home, we all carry them when we work in the orchards."

"That's right. You're District Eleven. Agriculture, orchards, correct? That must be how you can fly around the trees like you've got wings."

Rue was shown smiling, and Katniss prompted her: "Come on then, fix me up."

The little dark skinned girl died not hesitate, and to our surprise she took a small number of leaves into her mouth and started to chew. A few minutes later, she pressed a wet part of leaves on the older girl's stings, and Rue was heard to say: "At least you had the sense to pull the stingers out or you'd be a lot worse."

When Prim՚s sister was properly treated, she suggested to do something for the younger girl's burn on her forearm and applied a little of the burn medicine there.

"You seem to have good sponsors," Rue said, sounding a little bit envious. "You really weren't joking, about wanting me for an ally?"

"No, I meant it, of course. Come, sit down, let's eat." Katniss said.

The two girls shook hands, and soon they were seen to share their meal. The way they were sitting between on the grass between the trees, one could almost think that they were just having a picnic rather than being in the arena.

We learned from their continued conversation that living in District Eleven seemed to be as hard as living in ours. They were growing corn and fruit, but they weren't allowed to eat much of it, like Katniss and Gale risked whipping for poaching in the woods.

The two girls spread out their supplies and tried to divide evenly, and eventually Katniss brought out the glasses she had got, saying: "They are completely useless. They don't block the sun and they make it harder to see."

"But, these aren't for sun, they're for darkness!" exclaimed Rue. "Sometimes, when we harvest through the night, they'll pass out a few pairs to those of us highest in the trees, where the torch light doesn't reach. They let you see in almost complete darkness; try them tonight when the sun goes down."

"They have devices to let you see in darkness?" Wheat wondered.

"I believe that the Capitol has many devices and gadgets we can not even imagine" my father replied. "It is unfortunate that they are not sharing with the districts."

"Just imagine what you could do with such devices here," Wheat mused, "like looking around in the dark and look in other people's windows to see what they are doing in the dark..."

"Wheat!" my father admonished him, realizing the direction of his son's fantasies.

Meanwhile, cameras tried to get a view of other tributes. The male tribute from District Ten, who was shown to have a bad leg and thus hobbled a little, managed to hide in another area of the forest. He did not do real good, with poor food, but he had managed to avoid the attention from the Careers so far at least.

Then there also was the female tribute from District Five. After a close encounter during the initial bloodbath, she had escaped with a few bruises and also managed to avoid the Careers so far. She had also found a place to hide, and she changed spots frequently, finding plenty of water and some food. A few times she managed to steal supplies from other tributes when they were not paying attention; obviously she was able to move stealthily to some extent.

Close to the end of the day the camera moved back to Katniss and Rue, showing the two girls discussing sleeping arrangements; both girls preferred sleeping in a tree. Rue did not have a sleeping bag or even a blanket, and Katniss suggested to share hers, saying that the two slim girls would easily fit together.

Before they retired for the night, Katniss asked Rue about Peeta:

"You know the boy from my district, Peeta? I think he saved my life. But he was with the Careers. I am not sure what his intentions are."

"He's not with them now" Rue replied. "I've spied on their base camp by the lake. They made it back before they were all killed by the stingers, but he's not there. Maybe he did save you and had to run."

After some break Katniss mused: "If he did, it was all probably just part of his act. You know, to make people think he's in love with me."

"Oh," Rue said thoughtfully, "I didn't think that was an act."

"Of course it is," Katniss objected. "He worked it out with our mentor."

"Stupid girl" Wheat commented at home. "How can she not see that it was not an act?"

"Hey, don't call my sister stupid!" Prim protested vehemently.

"But, how can one not see that Peeta is totally serious about her?"

"I guess that some people are totally oblivious to such things. Katniss has always disregarded feelings like love, and she probably cannot easily understand that somebody may feel for her like that" my father explained, with Prim nodding.

In the arena, Rue apparently decided to change topic now: "I am curious about something else, too. When they were showing the reaping summaries from other districts, I saw you volunteering for your younger sister. This was so sweet!"

Katniss' face showed some concerns for a moment: "Primrose, yes. She's just twelve, like you, and I just could not let her go into the arena."

"That was really a sister's act of love then, right?"

Katniss nodded and whispered: "She is the person I love most on this world, after I had lost my father in that mine accident years ago."

Little Rue did not reply in words, but just moved next to Katniss and hugged her.

Prim had tears in her eyes again and also nodded: "Yes, this was indeed a sister's act of love."

At this time, dusk was there, the nightly anthem was played, and the viewing for the day ended.

"I am so glad that Katniss and Rue found each other" Prim was happy about that part at least. But of course, such an alliance could not last until the very end of the games. The sun had also gone down here in our district, and as the sky was free of clouds, Prim and I went for a quick walk before going to bed. We were in time to see the last little reddish afterglow from the sunset, and we watched together until the sky was fully dark and the stars came out.

Next morning's viewing – day eight in the games – first showed the Career group gathered around the Cornucopia. They had made themselves comfortable as much as possible, and for now they could afford to do so, as they had a lot of supplies around.

At this time, ten tributes were left alive: The boy from District One, both tributes from Two, the boy from Three, the girl from Five, the boy from Ten, Thresh and Rue, Katniss and Peeta.

Soon another camera showed Katniss and Rue sharing breakfast, and they were obviously talking about supplies. Rue had spied on the Careers a couple of times, and she reported that the Careers had a big stack of all kind of supplies at the Cornucopia. At home, we had seen this before on the screen. Katniss mused:

"Imagine the supplies were gone. How long would the Careers last? It is the Hunger Games, right?"

Rue objected: "But they are not hungry as far as we know!"

"No, they are not, and that is the problem. I think that we are having to do something about it, Rue. Today we take out the Careers' food!"

"How?" Rue wanted to know.

"No idea yet. Come on, we'll figure out a plan while we hunt," was the response.

So, Katniss either really did not know yet or she did not want to tell for the cameras.

However, during the hunting, Rue revealed that she had memorized more details about the Cornucopia environment during her hiding and spying over the last few days. She told Katniss some of what we as viewers already knew, about the boy from Three guarding the supplies while the Careers went hunting, probably doing this in exchange for his life. Rue did not know about the booby trapping, though.

"And the food's just out in the open?" Katniss asked.

Rue nodded, but Katniss was worried: "Something's not quite right about that whole setup, I think."

"I know" Rue agreed. "But I couldn't tell what exactly. Katniss, even if you could get to the food, how would you get rid of it?"

"Burn it. Dump it in the lake. Soak it in fuel. Eat it!" Prim՚s sister and Rue both giggled. "Don't worry, I'll think of something. Destroying things is much easier than making them."

One microphone caught them deciding to have a number of campfires lit to distract the Careers, so that they would hopefully all be somewhere else when Katniss executed her plan at the Cornucopia. It would be Rue's job to light the fires later on.

"Wow, this is a bold plan" Prim applauded her sister's smartness.

"Yes, it is" I confirmed. "But she needs to be careful, as she does not know about the explosives!"

The two girls in the forest were shown to divide their supplies and discussing last details, and Katniss moved on towards the Cornucopia, while Rue collected the wood for the fires.

Meanwhile, another camera showed the hiding male from District Ten, the boy with the injured leg. He had not fared too well so far, surviving on meager rations and not having any allies at all. While he walked through the forest, searching for food, his steps were heard by the Career hunting pack, who had gone foraging for prey in the forest, and several minutes later they confronted him. The Career pack only had three members now – Marvel from One and Cato and Clove from Two, not counting the boy from Three who guarded the supplies – but they were more than a match for the untrained boy, and it did not take long until the cannon went off and the hovercraft collected the lifeless body.

Thresh was getting comfortable in and around the big field of wheat he had found, and nobody had challenged him so far after the bloodbath. On the other hand, he had not made any attempt to go hunting for other tributes either. I suspected that he had, like Rue, a more peaceful attitude and probably did not enjoy hurting or liking others, but maybe he just played for time.

The girl from Five continued to sneak around; she found a little food in the wilderness and she also managed to steal supplies from other tributes a few times, always careful to take small amounts only so that it either went unnoticed or at least the others did not have a good reason to chase her.

Peeta, who had received a bad leg wound from Cato, had stumbled away from the other tribute after he had received the injury a few days ago, and he somehow managed to walk towards a stream. Due to his bad leg, this had taken him two days, but at least he had water now and a little food left in his pack. Apparently, he was not felling well at all, and he was unable to do much more than hiding.

At home we were very worried about him, of course, but there was nothing we could do at all.

Later on Katniss was shown at the border of the Cornucopia, watching while carefully hidden. She could not have known what was known to us and had been shown earlier – the Careers had booby trapped the supply stack, cleverly using some explosives from the starting circles.

While Katniss was obviously hesitating, Cato, who had been resting, suddenly jumped up and pointed towards the forest, where the camera briefly showed some smoke from Rue's first fire. The Careers started to grab their weapons, and they had some discussion on what to do. Some of them insisted that all of them should go to investigate, including the boy from Three, whereas others wanted the boy to stay here to guard the supplies.

"He's coming with us. We need him in the woods, and his job's done here anyway. No one can touch those supplies," Cato stated.

"What about Lover Boy?" the boy from District One asked.

"I keep telling you, forget about him. I know where I cut him. It's a miracle he hasn't bled to death yet. At any rate, he's in no shape to raid us" Cato replied. "Come on!"

When they entered the forest, Cato also said: "When we find her, I kill her in my own way, and none interferes." It was somehow clear to us that this was directed at Katniss.

For the next few hours, the cameras switched between the Careers searching the forest and Katniss lingering at the border to the Cornucopia.

"Why doesn't she do something?" Prim asked.

"I guess that she suspects something is wrong there" I replied.

Just when Katniss seemed to overcome her hesitation, another movement was visible, at some distance to Katniss. One of the other tributes was sneaking out of the forest and carefully walking towards the Cornucopia, and as soon as the face was seen, we recognized the female tribute from District Five, who had somehow gained the nickname 'Foxface'. The girl was, however, not approaching the center in a straight line, but deviating to the left and right, and close to the center, even hopped a few times, once she had examined the ground before her.

Clearly the girl either knew or suspected about the booby traps; maybe she had her sources about the way it was done or she could see where the ground was disturbed and a trap was buried. Anyway, she made it to the supply stack unharmed and grabbed a few things, while Katniss just watched. A few minutes later, Foxface was gone again, hidden between trees and bushes, and now Prim՚s sister made her move. Obviously she hesitated to mimic the other girl's approach and rather first examined one of the plates which had been used to elevate the tributes into the arena. From a safe distance she readied her bow and shot an arrow into a big net of apples which was placed almost on top of the stack. The arrow pierced the net, a second widened the gap, and after a third arrow was shot, the apples started to fall down, all around the stack, and finally spilling on the ground. For a moment nothing happened, but then the ground shook with a series of explosions; apparently the weight of the apples had been enough to not only trigger one, but most or even all of the buried explosives. Katniss was too close and was thrown back, fortunately on soft ground.

Prim squealed, and she pointed out: "Look, she is hurt – there's some blood coming out of her ear!"

Indeed, the camera zoomed in on her, and the explosions must have injured Katniss at least somewhat. Probably because of her injuries she took her time to retreat from the area, and the cameras showed the Career pack hurrying back to the Cornucopia; the loud noise from the explosions had alerted them, and they'd be arriving in mere minutes. Right before the first ones entered the clearing, Katniss had finally managed to hide herself, and when Cato saw the wreckage, the girl was hidden well enough.

Cato was obviously quite furious when he saw the supplies all destroyed. He and the boy from Three searched the wreckage, but it seemed like nothing had been left to use. Eventually the big tribute seemed to direct his ire to the poor boy who had been in charge of setting the booby traps. From Cato's point of view, it may have looked like the explosives had gone off by themselves and the wiring had been faulty, and in addition, the boy's anger needed to be vented. Before we fully recognized that happened, Cato took the male tribute from Three in a headlock from behind and snapped his neck. The cannon shot went off, the Careers retreated to the other side of the Cornucopia, and the corpse was recovered by a hovercraft.

The announcer providing some comments to the viewers in the Capitol and at the screens in the districts now stated that there were only eight tributes left in the game, and that teams were going to be sent out to the districts for family interviews. It had been quite some time that a tribute from our district had made it into the final eight, and thus no such interviews had been taking place here for many years; at least I could not recall any.

Prim got excited and curious:

"What does this mean – family interviews?"

My father knew a little more:

"Well, Primrose, there will be people asking questions to family members of the surviving tributes. They will be asking about what people know about them, how they like them, what they think about the game's progress so far, and much more."

"But, this means they will also ask me, right?" my girlfriend asked.

Dad nodded: "Yes, for sure. They will ask questions to you, to your mother, and to us Mellarks, and maybe to other people as well."

"Oh no – what will I say?"

The evening summary showed the faces of the tributes who had not survived the day, and in the bakery living room we tried to summarize the names of the remaining tributes:

"Well, there are Katniss and Peeta, of course, and Rue" Prim started.

"Thresh is also still alive and by himself" I added.

Wheat suggested: "The Career pack has Cato, Marvel and Clove. And Foxface is also still around somewhere."

"Yes, that's eight all together" my father confirmed. "Let's see how long those eight survive, and let's hope that Peeta and Katniss finally find and support each other."

We all agreed with that and went to bed after a quick supper.

The next day's morning viewing – day nine in the games – did not show anything spectacular in the last night's review. It appears that all of the eight surviving tributes had been quiet, with no kills during the knight. Rue was hiding close to one of the campfires she had lit as a distraction, and Katniss had found a safe place to sleep close to the Cornucopia. Peeta was still hiding close to the stream he had found, and nobody else had come even close to his position.

The few remaining Careers got up and started to go hunting, and a camera showed that they were heading in the direction of the campfires they had seen on the day before. Getting closer, they decided to split up; Cato from Two selected one of them, Clove from Two walked to the second, and Marvel, the boy from District One, proceeded in the direction of the fire Rue was close to.

Meanwhile, Katniss was also up and seemed to be eager to meet with her little ally again. The cameras showed a split screen view with both Marvel and Katniss approaching Rue's location, making it look like some kind of contest, which, unfortunately, it actually was.

Prim was getting jittery on my lap: "What if Marvel finds Rue first?"

Wheat stated plainly: "He will kill her for sure."

"Oh no!" my girlfriend replied.

"Maybe Katniss will be able to protect her" my father suggested.

The camera flashed back to the Cornucopia, and while we had assumed that nothing was left there, the girl from Five - 'Foxface' - was back, searching the debris. She seemed to be quite smart, and we could observe that she actually found a few small pieces which might be useful for her later on. Soon she was gone into the forest again, and the camera switched back to Katniss and Marvel. Prim՚s sister had used the opportunity to refill her water supply and wash herself at the stream and now walked on towards her ally's direction, or at least where she thought they would meet. Rue, though, had not yet moved back to their meeting point, so that Katniss was forced to wait.

This ended the morning show, and we could enjoy a long lunch break. The later afternoon viewing started on time to let us see Katniss finally finding traces of Rue's position, curiously by birds which had picked up Rue's special tune. Just when Katniss was real close though, Marvel got there first and found the little girl from District Eleven who had not paid attention to her environment for some time. Before she could react and hide, the boy threw a spear which pierced the girl's midsection, and she uttered a very loud scream.

Not only Rue screamed, but also Prim did when she saw that, almost like she got hurt herself. I could relate to that; Rue had grown to be our favorite tribute – after Katniss and Peeta, of course – and we all felt bad about that. Katniss was close enough to hear the scream and rushed there, and she killed Marvel with an arrow before he knew what happened. Rue had been fatally wounded, though, and there was nothing Prim՚s sister could do about it. Katniss took one of Rue's hand, and the little girl asked her:

"Did you blow up the food?"

Katniss nodded, and Rue continued in a whisper:

"You have to win!"

Katniss nodded again and replied:

"I'm going to. Going to win for both of us now"

A cannon went off, for Marvel we guessed, as Rue was still talking.

"Don't go." Rue requested.

"Of course not. I am staying right here" the older girl assured her.

"Sing something?" Rue asked.

We all wondered if Katniss could recall a proper song, but she actually managed:

Deep in the meadow, under the willow, a bed of grass, a soft green pillow. Lay down your head, and close your eyes. And when again they open, the sun will rise.

Here it's safe, and here it's warm. Here the daisies guard, you from every harm. Here your dreams are sweet and tomorrow brings them true. Here is the place where I love you.

Rue was barely breathing when Katniss was finished, and even here in the bakery's living room there was awed silence.

"Wow, this girl can really sing" Wheat could not resist the temptation to say.

"I know," Prim nodded, with tears in her eyes, "but she has rarely done that since our father died."

As soon as the next cannon was heard, Katniss was shown to decorate Rue's body with some flowers, and when the hovercraft approached to retrieve the body, Katniss stepped back. A few minutes later, when she was just about to look for a place to stay the night, a silver parachute floated down to her – a sponsor gift was sent.

"What are sponsors going to send her now?" I wondered.

"Strange indeed" my father said. "She is not seriously injured, she is not too hungry, and she has water. I don't have a clue either."

The camera showed Katniss unpacking the package, and there was a small loaf of bread inside, but neither looking like Capitol bread nor like the bread we sold. The announcer told us that this was bread from District Eleven, and it was obvious now that at least some people from that district had liked the way Katniss had treated their little girl and they wanted to honor her for that.

"My thanks to the people of District Eleven," Katniss was heard to say right into the camera, recognizing the symbol. The Capitol and the gamemakers were probably not so excited about that symbol. After all tributes were supposed to fight against each other and not showing affections.

No other killing than those of Marvel and Rue occurred for now, and at the end of the day, only six tributes were left alive.

This evening Prim was weeping a lot in my arms, and I could feel her tears dropping on my cheeks and neck for a long time; she had grown to love Rue and was devastated to know that Rue was now dead. From a realistic point of view, if we wanted one of our tributes to win, Rue would have to die sooner or later anyway, but this knowledge helped little to alleviate our pain.

[Author's Notes: Rue sure could have been a wonderful friend to Prim, and I also hate to see her die.]